Marching on Washington is American tradition, but few carry weight of 1963

But many 'don't carry the weight the (march) in 1963 did'

2:10 PM,
Aug. 23, 2013

A massive crowd assembled on the Mall in front of the Reflecting Pool and between the Lincoln and Washington monuments during the civil rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Aug. 28, 1963. It was at this rally that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech. Robert W. Kelley/Time & Life Pictures, Getty Images

Written by

Rick Hampson
USA Today

Janice Spurgin, a rancher from Nebraska, joined hundreds of thousands of abortion opponents this January in the March for Life to the Supreme Court. She found it "an amazing pilgrimage experience," remarkable for a passion exemplified by a Franciscan who walked barefoot.

When she flew home, she found nothing about the march in her local newspaper. She was not surprised. "In Washington, I think people look out the window and think, 'Not another march!' "

March fatigue: so many of them, for so many causes, to so little apparent effect. Is marching on Washington, one of the signal rituals of ...